When you launch your company, you hope to see hockey stick growth in the first year, which is what we experienced at Airbnb with the number of guests booking through our platform.

During my time at Airbnb, the company grew significantly, from around 30 product managers to over a hundred, highlighting the rapid expansion and the scale of operations.

We aimed to launch our improved service in three months, incorporating payments and reviews to enhance user experience, and we launched our service just weeks before a major event, listing 800 properties to help locals make extra money during the influx of visitors.

The transition from air beds to allowing entire homes to be rented was crucial for Airbnb's growth, transforming it from a niche idea to a billion-dollar company.

We faced challenges in raising funds, with many investors not responding or passing on Airbnb, claiming it didn't fit their investment thesis or that the travel market wasn't big enough, but we eventually secured a $1.5 million valuation for Airbnb.

We realized that if we could get enough people to use Airbnb, they would tell others about it, leading to organic growth.

By April 2009, we became Ramen profitable, which allowed us to secure a $600,000 investment from Sequoia Capital, marking a significant turning point for Airbnb.

Witnessing the growth of Airbnb from a small team to a large organization illustrates the potential for startups to scale significantly over time.

We went from zero to seventy million in revenue in our first year after launching our product, which sold out in a few hours.